Automatic air-torpedo.



I 0. A. L ANGOS.

AUTOMATIC AIR TORPEDO.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 21. l9l6.

o 2 SHEETS-SHEET I.

' l 1 Juniii l mull" Patented Mar. 27, 1917.

0. A. LANGOS.

AUTOMATIC AIR TORPEDO.

APPLICATION man JULY 21, 1916.

1,220, 42. Patented Mar. 27, 1917.

mam

mulumlnlw 70 "M 7 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

OTTO A. LANGOS, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGN'QR 'IO MELVILLE M. OSTERTAG, OF

CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

AUTOMATIC AIR-TORPEDO.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Mar. 2'7, 1917.

Application filed July 27, 1916. Serial No. 111,544.

cago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Automatic Air-Torpedoes, of which the following is a specification.

The essential object of this invention is to provide a new and improved form of paper-feeding device to be used in connection with the automatic air torpedo shown and described in my prior United States Patent dated September 26, 1911, No. 1,004,043. The toys forming'the subjectmatter of said patent have been found highly valuable in actual use, and this invention is designed still further to improve said toys and to overcome certain difficulties which have been encountered in the feeding of the paper ribbon, the rupture of which causes the report which it is the object of the toys to produce. 7

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a front elevation of an air torpedo embodying the invention with the paper ribbon removed, corresponding in general to Fig. 4 of Patent No. 1,004,043; Fig. 2 is a side elevation taken at a right angle to the view of Fig. 1, looking toward the left in said figure; corresponding in general to Fig. 1 of Patent No. 1,004,043; Fig. 3 is a view partly in section and partly in elevation taken on the line 33, Fig. 1; and Figs. 4, 5, and 6 are views which for position correspond with Figs. 1, 2, and 3, a slightly modified form of the invention being shown in said Figs. 4, 5, and 6.

In the specification and in the drawings accompanying the same and forming part hereof, sundry parts of an air torpedo are shown corresponding in all respects to the parts shown and described in my said prior patent and in the drawings thereof. All parts which bear reference numerals 1 to 50, inclusive, areconstructed and their mode of operation is the same as in said prior Patent No. 1,004,043.

In the construction shown the pneumatic cylinder 1 is provided with a movable piston 2 which has a piston rod 3 of greater length than the cylinder, which rod projects through an aperture in the lower head 4 of the cylinder. A coiled spring 2 is carried in said cylinder with one end resting on the piston and the other end resting against the upper cylinder head 5. Said spring acts normally to hold the piston at the lower limit of its movement Withthe piston rod 3 extended. Said head 5 is rigidly secured on the upper end of the cylinder. The receptacle 19 which receives the roll or ribbon of paper 20 is suitably-mounted upon the device and the ribbon 20 extends over the apertured cylinder head 5 so that the compression plate 29 apertured at 30 may engage the paper and hold the same pressed tightly against the cylinder head 5. When the handle 36 is pressed downwardly, there fore, the compression plate 30 seats tightly upon the ribbon of paper 20 and holds the ribbon firmly betweenthe compression plate .29 and the cylinder head 5; and as this downward pressure upon the handle is continued, the cylinder head 5 and piston 2 are forced to approach each other, the air compressed within the cylinder 1. by the piston 2 will rupture the paper ribbon 20, the paper so ruptured being in registration wlth the apertures 6 and 30 and this rupture of the paper will produce a report like the explosion of a firecracker or torpedo. Said explosion or report is produced as follows: A roll of paper ribbon is placed in the receptacle 19 and the end of the ribbon is passed through the slot 22, and across the head 5. When the lower end of the piston 3 is placed on the floor or other firm surface, and downward pressure is exerted on the handle, the compression plate is brought down on to the head 5 pressing the ribbon firmly against the seat 6. Further downward pressure on the handle forces the cylinder 1 down the piston rod 3, and causes the piston to compress the air in the cylinder. When the air has secured a certain amount of compression it will burst the ribbon with a loud report and escape from the cylinder through the port 6. The device is then liftedby-th e handle and the spring 2 returns the piston to normal position.

v The handle36 bears the sleeve 51, it being understood that the compression plate 29 is integrally united with or otherwise firmly securedto the sleeve 51, and the pins 52 carried upon said sleeve 51 slide Within the slots 53 which are cut in the cylindrical jacket 54. Extending downwardly from said cylindrical jacket 54 and flaring outwardly are the lugs 55 which are firmly fastened at 56 to the cylinder head 5 and in this manner the cylinder 1 and the cylindri callyshaped jacket 54 are firmly secured to each other, although not necessarily integrally united together.

Near the upper end of the sleeve 51 are ears 57 and within said ears the plate 58 is pivoted at 59, there being a spring 60 which normally tends to keep the lower end 61 of the plate 58 pressed toward the cylinder 1. A lip or flange 62 is formed upon the lower end of the swinging plate 58, and said lip or flange 62 cotiperates with a similar lip or flange 63 which is formed upon the swinging plate 64 pivoted at 65 to the ears 66 which are secured near the bottom of the cylinder 1, the upper end of the arm 64 being held against the cylinder 1 by the spring 66. The downwardly -projecting lugs are each provided with beads 68 in which notches 69 are cut. Said notches 69, of which there will obviously be four, proride a guideway through which the traveling ribbon 20 must pass and being so placed as normally to hold the ribbon resting flat upon the cylinder head 5.

Normally the parts will be in the positions depicted in Figs. 2 and 3 of the drawings, but when the handle 36 is depressed, the flange or lip 62 is carried into engagement with the flange or lip 63. Since said members 62 and 63 are disposed substantially at right angles to the spring-controlled arms 58 and 64 upon which said lips respectively are formed, it is obvious that the paper 20 will be grasped between the lips 62 and 63 which clamp the paper like a pair of jaws. As the handle 36 is forced downwardly after the two flanges or lips 62 and 63 have come into engagement with each other, such continued downward movement will carry both of said flanges 62 and 63 slightly toward the left in Figs. 2 and 3 because the members 53 and 64 will swing outwardly, 6., away from; the cylinder 1 or handle 36 and toward the left in said Figs. 2 and 3. This outward motion will result in feeding the paper a short distance forward or toward the left, causing the spool or roll of paper within the shell or container 19 partly to unroll, but after the downward pressure upon the handle 36 has continued for a time and after the paper has been fed forward a short distance, the flange or lip 62, which is slightly rounded off and not exactly parallel to the lip 63, will ride off said lip 63. The spring 67 will thereupon return the arm 64 and lip 63 to normal position, and the downward pressure upon the handle 36 can be continued until the piston 2 is forced completely to the top of the cylinder 1 or far enough within said cylinder to compress the air and rupture the paper ribbon 20.

After the ribbon has been ruptured and the explosion or report produced, the handle 36 can be lifted. All of those parts which are secured upon the cylindrical jacket 54 will cause said jacket to drop by gravity until such time as the pins 52 strike the upper ends' of the slots 53, during which descending movement of the cylindrical jacket 54 (or ascending movement of the sleeve 51, according to the point of view), the arm 58 will return to starting position and will be ready for a fresh operation. As the sleeve 51 again descends, the lip or flange 62 will again be carried against the lip 63, both lips together will move outwardly or away from the cylinder 1 and feed the paper forward, and the lip 51 and parts carried thereupon will continue to descend, carrying the apertured compression plate 29 until it strikes the paper 20 and holds the same permanently against the apertured cylinder head 5, and this operation can be repeated ad Zibt'tum.

In the modification shown in Figs. 4, 5, and 6, the arm 64, lip 63, cars 66, and spring 67 are constructed substantially as in the other form, although for convenience the spring-controlled arm 64 is of slightly different shape from the form shown in Figs. 1, 2, and 3. The pins 52 are replaced, however, by a relatively long rod or pintle 70 and the arm 71 bearing the ears 72 is pivotally mounted upon said shaft or pintle 70. A spring 73, which is coiled over the pintle 70, normally keeps the arm 71 in the full line position, and the lower edge 74 of the arm 71 which is preferably toothed, as shown in Fig. 4, rather than bent into a flange or lip as in Figs. 1, 2, and 3, cooperates with the flange or lip 63 precisely as in the preferred form of the invention.

I claim as my invention:

1. In a device of the character described, the combination of a cylinder, a handle movable with respect thereto, a spring-coir trolled jaw uponthe cylinder and a springcontrolled jaw upon the handle adapted to be carried into engagement with said firstmentioned springcontrolled jaw, said jaws being adapted to grasp and to advance a ribbon of paper.

2. In a device of the character described, the combination of a cylinder, a handle movable with respect thereto, a spring-con.- trolled jaw upon the cylinder, said jaw being provided with a flange or lip adjacent one end thereof, said jaw being, moreover, pivotally mounted at the end opposite said flange or lip, and a spring-controlled jaw upon the handle and movable therewith, said last-mentioned jaw being adapted to engage the flange or lip upon said firstmentioned jaw, thereby to force both of said jaws outwardly or away from the cylinder and to feed a ribbon of paper forward as said jaws thus move.

3. In a device of the character described, the combination of a cylinder, a handle movable with respect thereto, a pair of movable jaws, one pivoted upon the cylinder and one upon the handle, said jaws being adapted to come into contact with each other and being pivoted respectively at the ends opposite those ends which thus come into contact, the contacting ends of said jaws being adapted to 'grasp a ribbon of paper and feed the same forward as the contacting ends of said jaws are forced outwardly from said cylinder and said handle.-

-il. In a device of the character described, the combination of a cylinder, a handle movable with respect thereto, a pair of jaws, one pivoted upon the cylinder and the other pivoted upon the handle adjacent the ends of said jaws, being adapted to come into contact with each other after'the jaws have been moved a predetermined distance, said handle being adapted to move toward the cylinder a distance greater than the distance necessary to carry said jaws into engagement with each other, the contacting ends of said jaws being adapted to be forced V outwardly away from said cylinder and said handle as the pressure upon said handle continues, and springs for returning said jaws to normal position when the cylinder and the handle are no longer being forced toward each other.

In testimony whereof I afliX my signature.

OTTO A. LANGOS.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. G. 

